Yes, of course I’m talking about the circus of politics that was the presidential election we just had. On November 10, 2016, Carolyn Gregoire, senior writer for The Huffington Post, huffingtonpost.com, wrote an article entitled Your Post-Election Pain Is Real Grief. She states, “For more than half the nation and much of the world, we are in a period of mourning. After waking up to President-elect Donald J. Trump—what many can only describe as a nightmare—Americans face emotionally charged weeks and months ahead.”

She also states, “It’s okay if you’re not ready to fight yet. Psychologists recommend giving yourself time to mourn.” The reason she says that is because, as I also realize, losing the election represents a “monumental loss,” and the feeling is real and closely akin to “a difficult breakup or the loss of a loved one.”

It’s an excellent article to read if you still need to mourn, however, I’m assuming you’ve done that and are ready to get in touch with your anger, which is your passion at the moment, and ready to get on with the business of living, which is to continue to follow your sense of integrity by speaking out against the bigotry and hypocrisy that clearly is part of President-elect Donald Trump’s contentious character, which cannot be erased or denied by him or his followers.

It’s time for the silent majority to vociferously speak out against what Trump professes to represent; for it’s guaranteed that if we as a nation permit Trump to allow his brand of politics to become our political beliefs of tomorrow, all of what our Founding Fathers and their fellow patriots (women and men alike) fought and died for in order to protect our freedoms will be in vain.

But what does it mean to speak out?

I just finished talking with a friend of mine who I’ll call Bob. And it may seem odd for a person who writes political books and blogs to feel this way, but I had to tell him to not send me any more political emails, that I wasn’t interested in reading them or discussing politics with him ever again. The reason for that is whenever he sends me material that is clearly fake news, I can feel my blood pressure literally rise to a dangerous limit. He sends “facts” that aren’t true or in false context about Democrats and murder, the Clintons and murder, conspiracy theories and murder …

It’s not that I don’t want to discuss or mix it up with people who hold political views different from my own. But how does one discuss politics with someone who is drawing conclusions from a completely false reality? Bob and I have gone over the same political territory for many months now, and because we both have come to sound like a broken record, I no longer want to waste my time rehashing the pure irrationality that Bob has pulled off the Internet and certainly no interest in drinking that Kool-Aid. There is no chance here of finding the common ground that makes it possible to work together to identify what might fix our broken system of government. I am beginning to believe it’s not the government that’s broken; it’s the people. We can’t even agree on what is solid ground and what is hot air.

In the process of telling him of my intentions to end our email discussion, I explained that I don’t believe Trump has either the character or the temperament to be president of the United States. Bob answered in his usual way: “Yes, but Hillary …” and proceeded to tell me all of the reasons I shouldn’t vote for her. I interrupted him and said I was no longer interested in discussing politics with him, not ever again. He responded with “Yes, but Hillary …” It was like talking to a brick wall. Whenever I tried to finish our political conversation, he repeated over and over and over again, “Yes, but Hillary …” Neither of us could be moved.

Finally, I really blew up. By that time, he too realized I could have a heart attack; I was that distressed. Only then did he accept that the conversation was over.

I now realize that the only defense Trump voters had against critiques of his character, behavior, belief system, and business history was to attack Hillary. At the best of times, political discourse becomes a sparring between Democratic ideologies vs. Republican talking points. In that dichotomy, the heart gets lost. My sense of risking a heart attack seems apt; ultimately, Bob and I bombing each other with different views of reality, whatever is ultimately true, is a heartless endeavor.

Realizing this brought me to the understanding that such matters that fill the heart—the state of our souls, the clarity of our moral values and/or integrity, the interactions between people that we cherish and that make life worth living—should never be contaminated with politics as we usually think of them, and most certainly not with political parties. The two languages do not speak to one another. How can you use the language of divine love to discuss the political reasons for war? For example. Perhaps if we begin to differentiate them as separate and distinct languages, then we can more clearly identify when denial of humanity has occurred in the discourse, when the focus has changed from the sacred trust we have to the planet and life on it to power over and profit from resources. For example.

In truth, I have yet to hear any Trump supporter use the language of divine love to defend his vile and despicable use of words, his bigotry or hypocrisy on their own terms. Perhaps because they know such behaviors are indefensible and ultimately unpresidential, since the job of the president is to care about the whole country, its territory and citizens, the health of its future. These are ultimately matters of the heart.

So here’s the conclusion I have come to. In order to be true to our values and ourselves, we must begin to think like Americans, like human beings who live on what was once called Turtle Island and now calls itself the United States of America. Thinking like human beings who are Americans is not like thinking like mere Republicans or Democrats. Thinking like a member of a party means we are thinking like politicians jockeying for advantage, for power and dominance and not like Americans, not like human beings who love this land and all that thrives upon it. By thinking like politicians, we are automatically thinking only about “what our country can do for us.” While if we think like Americans, we can begin to think about “what we can do for our country.” And that’s what I mean to speak out about.

When we begin to think like Americans again, we’ll be thinking like our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln, who wanted to be remembered for what he was able to do for his country. What was interesting about Lincoln, though he was a politician par excellence and not perfect by any means, he tried very hard to use his head and his heart when making decisions. No wonder he remains one of the most beloved presidents who has ever served our country. He always tried hard to consider the ramifications of his decisions on all his citizenry before making up his mind.